Lewis was right to deny the report. There isn’t much else he can say about it — he has a job to do over two more games and wouldn’t just admit he’s leaving his players after the season.

But to suggest the players didn’t see the report is silly. Lewis controls a youngish roster of players who play football, so it’d make sense they were on their phones looking at football-related material hours before a game.

It’s an odd course for Lewis to take and it’s hard to argue his players weren’t impacted by the report, at least based on the on-field performance. And Lewis’ sense of urgency in game situations and with his timeouts, especially near the end of the first half, simply wasn’t there.

Clearly, these Bengals are going through the motions — Lewis is simply taking it to a different level while the narrative unravels.